A cacophony of sumptuous colour and movement, The Nymphs Have Departed is an exquisite example of Cecily Brown’s seductive amalgamation of the figural and the abstract, as well as her celebration of the possibilities of oil paint in the depiction of human flesh. Part of a cycle of paintings that draw upon mythological imagery within the canon of art history, the present work exemplifies bodies and faces that appear and disappear within a rich sea of pulsating cobalt, emerald and pink brushwork. The viewer is confronted by an exquisite network of colliding pigment, forming a composition that is in a constant state of flux. Omitting any sense of gravity or defined space, Brown’s painterly language confuses reality and makes it impossible for the viewer to understand where they stand in relation to the narrative. As curator and museum director Suzanne Cotter explains, “Her works engage unabashedly with the language of painting itself, its dynamism, its indisputable material presence, and its ability to play with the viewer’s perception through its possibilities for depiction and narrative. In opting for the experience of painting as one that appeals directly to the senses, Brown solicits the viewer into a relationship of complicit visual pleasure” (Suzanne Cotter quoted in: Exh. Cat., Oxford, Modern Art Oxford, Cecily Brown: Paintings, 2005, p. 37). Employing a diverse range of source material, The Nymphs Have Departed evokes Brown’s triumphant investigation into the narrative possibilities of contemporary painting.

The composition and title of The Nymphs Have Departed alludes to one of the most celebrated mythological stories in the Western art historical canon: Diana, the roman goddess of virginity, the hunt, and the moon, and her devoted nymphs. Painted across the centuries by artists such as Veronese, Gentileschi, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Vermeer, Diana is often portrayed nude or scantily dressed, her image erotically charged. Brown’s dynamic composition is particularly reminiscent of Titian’s Diana and Actaeon from 1556-59 and Rubens’ Diana and her Nymphs Surprised by Satyrs from 1639-40. Her vibrant use of sky blue and ultramarine, as well as shades of coral and crimson with accents of white recall the elegant drapery of fabric in these celebrated Old Master works. Even the loosely delineated pose of Brown’s figure to the right of her composition recalls the reaction of surprise in the figure of Diana and a nude nymph in Titian and Rubens’ respective paintings. These figures’ arms appear to be stretched above the head, yet in Brown’s painting they melt and morph into the topography of her quick brushwork, disappearing before the viewer’s eyes. Brown simultaneously transcends this conventional, straight-forward narrative via a rich and vibrant facturing of the figure and the landscape.

The title of the present work also alludes to T.S. Eliot’s 1922 poem The Waste Land, and to a specific line that reads, “The wind crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed. Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song. The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers, silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends, or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed.” Another painting from the same cycle of works Brown executed in 2014, The river’s tent is broken, also takes its title from Eliot’s literary masterwork. The nymphs referenced by Eliot are likely a euphemism for prostitutes, and Brown can be seen as drawing upon yet another overtly sexualised reference to this mythological figure.

Throughout her career Brown has been fascinated by the role of the erotic in the history of art and literature, and how the erotic can be portrayed in oil paint. Her canvases appear to confront, translate and re-mix the sexual energies of the Old Masters’ most significant works. In art historian Linda Nochlin’s essay “Cecily Brown: The Erotics of Touch,” she describes Brown’s tendency to draw upon the past: “It is precisely this sense of struggle, of grappling with the problems of painting and the ever-present challenge of painting’s past, that gives so much vitality to Brown’s work” (Linda Nochlin, “Cecily Brown: The Erotics of Touch,” Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader, New York, 2015, p. 355).

There is renewed excit.mes nt and interest in Brown’s practice following the announcement of the major career survey Cecily Brown: Death and the Maid at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York between April and December 2023. The exhibition will bring together fifty paintings, drawings, sketchbooks and monotypes to explore themes central to her practice. The exhibition will also mark the first museum show of her work in New York since she moved there from London in the 1990s. Death and the Maid will follow a number of critically acclaimed exhibitions in 2022, including Cecily Brown: Dream Spaces at Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, and The Triumph of Death at Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples.